Earlier today, I spoke with His Majesty the King to request the dissolution of Parliament.

The King has granted this request, and we will have a general election on the 4th of July.

This election will take place at a time when the world is more dangerous than it has been since the end of the Cold War.

Putin's Russia is waging a brutal war in Ukraine and will not stop there if he succeeds.

That war has also made it all too clear the risk to our energy security.

In the Middle East, the forces of Islamist extremism threatened regional and ultimately global stability.

These tensions are exploited by extremists

who seek to undermine our values and divide our society here at home.

China is looking to dominate the 21st century

by stealing a lead in technology,

and migration is being weaponized by hostile states

to threaten the integrity of our borders. These uncertain times call for a

clear plan and bold action to chart a course to a secure future. Well, so there you have it.

Snap election in Britain. Yeah, things can only get better. Who's excited? I know I am, Will. How about you?

I'm excited. I've just been recruited actually to be the labor candidate in Islington North. Very excited to bring a modern progressive vision to a riding that very much needs it. Well, you're alluding, of course, to the fact that one Mr. Paul Mason is making, I don't know, this must be like his seventh or eighth attempt to be a

Labor Party candidate now in the Starmer era. And he has been turned down every time. I saw there's

like a short list of two people they're considering and he's not on it. I saw my colleague David

Broder put it this way. He said, Paul Mason keeps trying to sell out, but no one's

buying. So look, for those of you who aren't into the weeds in British politics, Paul Mason is a guy.

I mean, you're probably familiar with him. He was a journalist on Channel 4 News. He was their

economics editor. One of the leftier people on British TV, you know, he,

I think, became especially prominent when he was covering events in Greece roughly 10 years ago.

...